Advertising Pros and Cons for DIY Artists.

As a DIY artist, your goal is to make your creative project self-sufficient and profitable. Advertising can be a great tool to achieve that goal, but if done improperly, it can also be a great way to waste your hard-earned money.

Pros

Exposure
When you have an upcoming show or release, you obviously want as many people to hear about it as possible. It can speed up the process of converting people into followers, followers into fans, and fans into sources of revenue. With a well-targeted ad, you can reach your current fans more consistently and expand your reach to potential fans. While boosting your visibility, it can also improve your professional appearance to fans and industry professionals, further bolstering your brand.

Control
You have control over who sees your ads, where, and even when. As opposed to earned media (like free press from third-party blogs or playlists), paid media, like digital ads, allows you to broaden your reach while controlling the narrative, pushing viewers to take a desired action. Whether that’s buying tickets to your next show or pre-saving your upcoming album, it is completely up to you.

Data
You can take it one step further and gain key insights to learn more about who engages with your ads, giving you more control over the adjustments you make or over your next ad campaign, targeting your audience more intentionally and getting the results you want.

Cons

Costs
Ads obviously cost money, not to mention higher bid costs for competing for the same audiences as other artists, or the time it takes to effectively test, run, and monitor your ads.

It’s only one piece of the puzzle
Advertising is not the end-all-be-all for promoting your music and brand. If anything, it’s a nice bonus when you’re already doing it well. Paid media can and will flop when you don’t back it up with other forms of media and promotion.

Know-how
There’s a lot to learn when getting into advertising and plenty of moving parts. Understanding the ad-serving platforms, algorithms, and knowing what to do with audience data all come to mind. Then there are keywords, A/B testing, monitoring, reporting… you get it.

Ads and Streaming

The main issue I’ve encountered with artists and advertising is the lack of budget and clear goals. While it’s admirable to have created a marketing budget and factored in an advertising budget, most of the time that $100 for release ads could have been better used elsewhere to drive more revenue opportunities.

To get an idea of what to expect from your ads, consider that the Cost per 1000 impressions on Meta is generally $5-$10. A good ad converts at around 2-5%.

For example, let’s say you want to advertise your new single on a budget of $100. Through a popular advertising platform like Meta, you could expect somewhere around 10,000 impressions on your ad. A decent conversion rate sits somewhere between 2-5%, meaning only 200-500 people will click the link, no telling who will actually stream it, let alone follow along for the next one. Before you even factor in royalty splits, that $100 you spent has earned you (if you’re lucky) one dollar and some change in streams.

Advertising can be a good way to get new listeners, boost your streaming numbers, and improve your discoverability on streaming platforms, but be prepared to spend $300-$1000 per month. Still, you shouldn’t expect it to turn a profit directly. Instead, you should see that as an investment that strengthens your brand and other revenue streams.

My Advice:

If you’re already working with a small budget, reinvest your money into revenue-driving activities. Take that $100 and spend it on merch. There are plenty of imaginative ways to make merchandise at a low cost with a high return on investment. Or spend it on your release show or other gigs (more on that later). But if you’ve got a small budget and you’re dead set on advertising for your release anyway, here’s what I’d suggest:

Get into paid media by way of organic media.

You should already be posting relentlessly about your upcoming release anyway. At least 3 times a week for a few months, and that’s just on your feed with or without advertising. You should allow yourself time to come up with creative, engaging content. Don’t burn out your audience with the same album art or graphics over and over again. Once you get into the final weeks of your campaign, look at your posts and determine which ones have gained the most engagement, the highest number of impressions, and the largest reach. That’s where you put your advertising budget. Then boost those specific posts to further engage your current audience and reach more people.

Ads and Concerts

In my opinion, if you’re going to advertise, advertise a show. If you’re a local DIY artist, think about all the times you’ve posted about a show, and your fans either missed it or forgot about your upcoming gig. With this strategy, the focus is not on getting new people to your show (though that’s always a plus) but on getting the word out to your core fanbase and getting the highest percentage of them to your show. Again, this is best employed when paired with strategic organic marketing. DM your followers about the show, post reminders, engage your mailing list- whatever else you need to do to keep the message in front of your audience regularly.

Getting more people to your show is more than just getting your cut of the door. It’s getting them in front of your merch booth, tip jar, and in front of you. You are your brand, and the best way to connect with your audience is personally. Blow them away with your performance, hook them up with a free sticker, and hang around to talk with them after the show. These kinds of interactions turn fans into super fans who want to financially support your music, in turn strengthening your career as an artist.

In Conclusion

There’s a lot of upside to advertising as a DIY artist, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, the cons will almost certainly outweigh the pros. You’re shooting yourself in the foot if you are throwing money at ads and hoping something sticks. Do your research, know your audience, learn how to use the tools, and really consider whether advertising is the right choice for you. The team here at Commune Music can help determine whether advertising is right for your project and help you navigate those waters. Want to learn how to make the most of your advertising budget? Check out our consulting or advertising services.